Short abstract:

Using examples from two Nordic countries, this presentation explores how some countries have begun to market and brand their national digital resources using methods and practices drawn from the commercial sector. The presentation will draw connections to the notion of digital nationalism.

Long abstract:

This presentation will examine changes that have taken place during the past ten years in two Nordic countries: Denmark and Finland. Drawing on research conducted in the field of biobanking and medical health care it explores how these two countries have started to brand their populations and the data that is collected and stored from them for research purposes. I argue that many of these practices represent and draw on new forms of nationalism which are expressed particularly within the digital realm. The processes in which states seek to develop new forms of capitalization of data derived from the population deserve attention since they introduce normative assumptions and imagery related to nations and connect them to new forms of digital artifacts. Exploring population branding introduces new perspectives into the digital nationalism discussion as many of the rhetorical devices build on existing, and sometimes long-standing nationalistic imagery and rhetoric.